Slanted and Enchanted

The Evolution of Indie Culture

A lively examination of the spirit and practices that have made the indie movement into a powerful cultural phenomenon

You know the look: skinny jeans, Chuck Taylors, perfectly mussed bed-head hair; You know the music: Modest Mouse, the Shins, Pavement. You know the ethos: DIY with a big helping of irony. But what does it really mean to be "indie"?

As popular television shows adopt indie soundtracks and the signature style bleeds into mainstream fashion, the quirky individuality of the movement seems to be losing ground. In Slanted and Enchanted , Kaya Oakes demonstrates how this phase is part of the natural cycle of a culture that reinvents itself continuously to preserve its core ideals of experimentation, freedom, and collaboration.

Through interviews and profiles of the artists who have spearheaded the cause over the years--including Mike Watt, David Berman, Kathleen Hanna, and Dan Clowes--Oakes examines the collective creativity and cross-genre experimentation that are the hallmarks of this popular lifestyle trend. Her visits to music festivals, craft fairs, and smaller collectives around the country round out the story, providing a compelling portayal of indie life on the ground. Culminating in the current indie milieu of music, crafting, style, art, comics, and zines, Oakes reveals from whence indie came and where it will go next.

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A well-intentioned, but somewhat scattered and ho-hum attempt to explore the roots and development of the elusive idea of indie. A former writer/editor at Kitchen Sink, Oakes explores indie in music, comic, lit and arts & crafts but almost wholly avoids movies, perhaps because there are other books on the subject (Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes). It's a noble enterprise, but it doesn't feel very focused or insightful. She visits meccas of indie like Portland and Brooklyn, but doesn't really offer much of interest and in her attempts to locate the historical origins of indie, she rather unconvincingly talks about the Beats and counter-culture. It might have worked better if she had focused on one particular area (say music), rather than try to deal with indie in different spheres. And she totally stole that title from Pavement, who, of course, are mentioned. Nice try.